For those of us who have been playing console
games for some years, there was a game released over 5 years ago called Wipeout
on the Playstation, it blended futuristic landscapes and ships with racing and
was an excellent game, full of color and bonus powerups. Well you will be pleased
to hear that some of the original people who worked on Wipeout back then have
been working on this new title from Microsoft too.

Incredible speed.
Experience five racing speeds across each of the 16 multi-terrain racing circuits
for an ultra-fast, freestyle, roller-coaster ride. Hurdle across rough open
terrain, through forests, across turbulent water, and over massive jumps.
Earn higher and greater rewards by competing at higher speeds

Unique characters.
Each of eight characters (pilots) has his/her own nemesis, unique ship, and
home circuit. Throughout the game, you'll learn about the character's personalities
and their deep storyline. Each character, with his/her nemesis, has history
and a "grudge-match" scenario that drives them to beat their opponents.

Combat racing ships.
Pilot 16 unique hover vehicles, each of which can effectively compete on any
terrain but are optimized for their pilot's "home" circuit. Not only can these
ships go at speeds exceeding 900 mph, but they are armed to the hilt with
weapons. There are more than 150 weapons in the game!

Installation, Settings and Loading Speeds

Quantum Redshift comes on the
single DVD-ROM. It doesn't take very long to load both the game or the in-game
levels, levels are well designed in loading terms, they show you the layout
of the track as each one loads up for you.

Gameplay

Review Quotes

"There
is no other title on the Xbox that can currently produce as fast a speeds
as Quantum Redshift produces, the scenery flies by and you can sometimes
end up missing some of the excellent graphical effects in the game."

There have been a number of futuristic racing titles released
across the whole range of games consoles over the past few years, but very few
have come close to matching the style and speed of the original Wipeout release.
Quantum Redshift has tried to go that bit further by adding 16 different pilots
for you to control, each of which have specific rivals in the game, there are
even various back stories relating to these rivalries (nothing to write home
about although they are hammy enough to be fun to watch). Because there are
16 different pilots for you to control, there are also 16 different ships for
you to fly too. Each ship can be upgraded depending on how much cash you have
made at the end of each race.

The main mode in Quantum Redshift is tournament mode, from
here you can select one of eight opening pilots (more can be opened up later
in the game if you can beat your pilots nemesis). You begin the game as a novice
pilot, more difficult modes get unlocked as you play through the game, the learning
curve is actually quite steep. The first set of tournaments can be completed
with ease early on, but once you get to the midway tournament the difficulty
level goes up very high suddenly, this can lead to a lot of frustrating games
later on in Quantum Redshift.

The idea in Quantum Redshift is to finish each race in first
place, you race across various courses from industrial wastelands to tracks
that are full of snow and ice. The better you perform in each race, the more
points you get. These points are then converted into cash which you can sped
on improving you ship. You can improve the weapons your ship has so that you
can take out other pilots whilst you are racing, you can increase the length
that your turbo boost will last so you can fly faster for longer and finally
you can improve you shield which is needed incase any other rival pilots decide
that they want to fire their weapons or rockets at you during the race.

You can only complete a course by finishing first, there are
six different pilots to compete against on each course. You do however, spend
most of your time on the lookout for the power-ups - giving you the chance to
fire missiles at your other rival pilots. The problem here is that when you
fire a missile at them it doesn't seem to stop the computer AI's pilot for as
long as it does if you get hit by one, which can mean that all your hard work
trying to get into first place can be undone in a flash which can be just a
little frustrating. The only other problem I have gameplay-wise is that the
ship you fly in feels too light, they can bounce all over the place and even
slight movements on the game controller can have you veering off into some scenery.

The early tournaments are played at quite a slow pace, it
is only when you reach the midway expert level that the speed of the game really
starts to increase. Quantum Redshift really has a great feel of speed which
is vital in a game like this. The scenery flies by at an astounding pace with
no slow down frame rate wise to speak of. The great news here is that Multiplayer
mode is split-screen with no slowdown yet again, even when four people are playing
at one time. The only differences you might (or probably won't) notice in the
multiplayer game are small graphical effects being switched off such as the
excellent rain effects.

Graphics & Sound

Review Quotes

"The
main mode in Quantum Redshift is tournament mode, from here you can select
one of eight opening pilots (more can be opened up later in the game if
you can beat your pilots nemesis)"

There is no other title on the Xbox that can currently produce
as fast a speeds as Quantum Redshift produces, the scenery flies by and you
can sometimes end up missing some of the excellent graphical effects in the
game. For those of you that love to see games using up all of the Xbox's fancy
features that it can throw out, you won't be disappointed here, there are loads
of great little effects used throughout the game and the water effects that
leave little drips trickling down your ships windscreen are easily the best
I have seen on the Xbox so far.

The music in Quantum Redshift us also very good and is perfectly
suited to the game. Junkie XL being the main provider of the game's music tracks
here. The sound effects are on the whole excellent, especially in Dolby 5.1,
you can hear the patter of rain hitting your windscreen whilst racing. The only
problem I had here was the missile effects which for some reason sound too tinny
and annoying for my liking. There is also the option to use your own customized
soundtrack if you want to, a vital feature in racing games.

Quantum Redshift is enjoyable enough, it won't
however win any awards for originality. The graphics are undoubtedly superb
and the Dolby sound is generally excellent, multiplayer can be fun, but most
of the time there is just something exciting missing from it - I can't put my
finger on it though. I really hope they work on a sequel as they have got the
makings of a classic here, it just needs tweaking.